President Bush said earlier this week that Americans will soon be able to send family members in Cuba cell phones in a move he hopes will bring more freedom to the communist island nation.
The U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which has been in effect since the early 1960s, prohibits American companies from doing business there. Americans are also restricted from traveling to Cuba. And there are several restrictions regarding gifts given to people living in Cuba.
Dan Fisk, National Security Council senior director for Western hemisphere affairs, told the Associated Press that the new policy, which will take effect in a few weeks, is not an indication that the U.S. will loosen its economic embargo against Cuba. It is simply a policy change that will allow U.S. citizens to send cell phones in care packages to family members.
Bush also said during his speech, given at the White House commemorating the 106th anniversary of Cuban independence this week, that he'd allow faith-based organizations and nonprofit groups working with Cuba to provide computers and Internet access to the Cuban people.
The changes in U.S. restrictions come as Raul Castro, who took office in February, begins lifting several bans imposed by his brother Fidel Castro, who had ruled the island nation for 49 years. Specifically, he has lifted bans that had prohibited Cubans from owning cell phones and buying DVD players, computers, and kitchen appliances.
Bush said he was changing the policy with regard to cell phones in an effort to encourage the new leadership in Cuba to provide more freedoms to its people.
"If Cuban rulers will end their restrictions on Internet access, and since Raul is allowing Cubans to own mobile phones for the first time, we're going to change our regulations to allow Americans to send mobile phones to family members in Cuba," the president said in a speech. "If Raul is serious about his so-called reforms, he will allow these phones to reach the Cuban people."
Felipe Perez Roque, Cuba's foreign minister, called Bush's remarks "ridiculous" during a press conference on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
"It was a decadent show, a speech irrelevant and cynical, an act of ridiculous propaganda," the AP quoted him as saying at the news conference. "Let him retire and leave the presidency."
Even though restrictions on cell phones and computers have been lifted in the communist country, it's difficult to say how much of an impact it will really have. Most people are still too poor to buy these luxury items. And even those receiving free cell phones from friends and relatives in the U.S. won't likely be able to afford a service plan so they can actually use their phones.
Cell phone service from U.S. operators can be accessed in parts of Cuba, but it's typically unreliable. The small wireless market that already exists in Cuba is controlled by Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A., or ETECSA. The company has said it will soon offer prepaid contracts to the general public now that the ban has been lifted. Prepaid services are popular in other poor countries, such as the Philippines, where nearly everyone owns a cell phone. But pricing of the prepaid plans in Cuba is still uncertain.
Ordinary Cubans will soon have the luxury of owning a cell phone, according to a story by the Associated Press.
President Raul Castro's government said Friday that it will allow anyone in the country to get cell phone service, a right previously limited to executives working for foreign companies or high communist party officials.
This is the first announcement that a major government policy or restriction has been changed since the 76-year-old Castro took over as leader of the island nation from his older brother Fidel Castro.
The AP said there has been a kind of black market for cell phones in Cuba where people who were ineligible were able to get phones and service by having foreigners sign contracts in their names. But for the most part, mobile phones are not common in Cuba.
The small wireless market in Cuba is a monopoly controlled by Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A., or ETECSA. The company has said it will soon offer prepaid contracts to the general public now that the ban has been lifted.
But because most Cubans only make about 408 Cuban pesos, or a little less than $20, a month according to the AP, it's hard to imagine that many Cubans will be able to afford a cell phone. Still, even the poorest of the poor have managed to afford cell phones in other countries. I was amazed on my a recent trip to the Philippines that everyone I encountered, from housemaids to Bangka boat captains to street vendors, all had cell phones. The Philippines also happens to be considered the texting capital of the world.
It's also very hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that people in Cuba have simply not been allowed to own cell phones while the rest of the world has seen an explosion in cell phone usage and technology. In the U.S., more than 80 percent of the population owns a cell phone. And close to 3 billion people around the globe have cell phones.
Cuba isn't the only country loosening its cell phone ban. In North Korea, where people had been publicly executed for carrying a cell phone, the ban is also being lifted, according to Web reports.
The North Korean government imposed the cell phone ban after a 2004 explosion in the city of Ryongchon that was believed to be an assassination attempt on the communist country's leader, Kim Jong-Il.
North Korea's ban is somewhat ironic considering that its southern neighbor South Korea is one of the most sophisticated mobile phone markets in the world.
But for governments that are intent on keeping a tight lid on information coming in or going out of the their country, cell phones are a major threat.
After all, it has been through photographs and video taken on cell phones and circulated on the Internet that the world has seen the disturbing images of the riots in Tibet: the clouds of tear gas, burning buildings, monks in purple robes, and riot police. Cell phones were the primary way that news was leaked to the outside world during the crackdown in Burma last year. And in many places, cell phones have been used to gather protesters and distribute antigovernment messages.
Qualcomm has likely dodged a bullet that could have halted the import of some of its chips into the United States.
On Friday, the company said a judge recommended putting an end to an investigation conducted by the U.S. International Trade Commission that is looking into complaints filed by handset maker Nokia against Qualcomm.
Nokia, which sells more mobile phones than any other manufacturer in the world, asked the ITC in August to ban imports of phones that included Qualcomm chips that Nokia says infringe on its patents. The patents are related to technology that enhances device performance, lowers manufacturing costs and improves battery life.
Nokia and Qualcomm have been duking it out in the courtroom for several months after the companies failed to renew a licensing agreement that expired in April.
ITC Administrative Law Judge Paul Luckern recommended that the investigation end because the companies are already in arbitration to settle the dispute, Qualcomm said in a statement. The ITC has 30 days to review the decision. If the decision stands, the investigation will be terminated and Qualcomm will continue to be allowed to import its chips into the United States.
The judge's recommendation comes a few months after the ITC ruled that imports of Qualcomm chips that infringe on a patent from Broadcom would be banned from entering the U.S. The ban has been partially stayed while Qualcomm appeals the case. But service providers such as Verizon Wireless, which use Qualcomm chips in many of the cell phones they sell, has made a separate deal with Broadcom to ensure that phones on the Verizon network still make it into the country.
Qualcomm said Monday that its top lawyer is leaving the company.
Lou Lupin, who has served as Qualcomm's executive vice president and general counsel since 2000, is stepping down from his post, the company said. The company didn't provide any details about why Lupin is leaving. But his departure comes just a week after the company was dealt another legal blow in its ongoing battle with Broadcom.
Last week, the Bush administration declined to step in to veto a ban imposed by the Federal Trade Commission on importing cell phones using Qualcomm chips that have been found to infringe on a Broadcom patent. The FTC issued the ban in June. Qualcomm is still appealing the decision, which went into effect last week.
Carol Lam, who joined Qualcomm's legal team in February, will be the new general counsel for Qualcomm. Prior to her job with the chipmaker, Lam served as a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California.
Update 9:26 a.m. PDT Tuesday: Carol Lam will be the interim general counsel for Qualcomm while the company looks for a replacement. She will not be the permanent general counsel as the story above suggests.
The Bush administration has dealt another blow to chipmaker Qualcomm in its battle to dodge an International Trade Commission's ban on the importation of its advanced cell phone chips into the U.S.
On Monday, the Bush administration ruled it would not intervene and veto the ITC's decision, which was handed down in June. The ITC banned the importation of all cell phones using 3G chipsets from Qualcomm, because Qualcomm was found to have infringed on patents held by rival Broadcom.
The ban still hasn't gone into effect, but it looks like Qualcomm is running out of options. Last month, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it didn't have jurisdiction in the case. And Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier impacted if the ban goes into effect, has already struck a deal directly with Broadcom to license its chips.
Stay tuned for more comments and analysis on what this latest development means for Qualcomm and the rest of the cell phone industry.
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